UK and LA based Musicmetric has scored a new $4.7 million investment to expand its music analytics service and other data services for the entertainment industry. New investor Imperial Innovations Group and existing financier Pentech Ventures participated in the new round. Semetric has raised $7.4 million it's 2008 launch.

Analytics have been getting much more attention as artists, labels and the entire music industry work to focus their promotional efforts.This time last year competitor Next Big Sound \closed a $6.5 million Series A financing round, and continues to upgrade its platform.

Music analytics platforms draw data from Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, MySpace, and across the web. Musicmetric also adds activity data from BitTorrent and other less legitimate sources. “The value of aggregating BitTorrent data in such detail, alongside social media trends and sentiment, is that it allows for a far greater understanding of how and where music is being consumed,” Semetric said in a statement. “This enables marketers across media industries to evaluate more efficiently which markets are growing the fastest and which strategies are proving the most successful.

MUSICMETRIC HANDS ON

I've had the opportunity to work a bit with the Musicmetric over the last few weeks on behalf of our agency clients at Skyline Music. Much like NextBigSound and competitors, it's dashboard is intuitive for the novice user. But more experienced data geeks can also drill through more information.

In addition to the inclusion of BitTorrent and other 'illegitimate sources, I've found the Musicmetric feature which offers data on the city level particularly useful when routing tours. Combine good analytics and good agenting with the selective use of crowdfunding, and artists may never waste their time and resources playing to an empty room again.

There is a limited free service, and Musicmetric plans start at $15 per month.